The updated range includes hookless rim compatibility, faster rolling, and improved puncture protection
(Image credit: American Classic)
American Classic has updated its road and gravel tyre collection, with particular attention paid to its popular Timekeeper and Torchbearer models. Following its relaunch last September, the brand says its team of engineers have been working to update its product offering, with the aim “to provide riders with even faster road and gravel tyres”.
Among the updates, which include hookless rim compatibility and improved armour for puncture protection, the road and gravel tyres offered by American Classic are claimed to be faster now, with third-party testing backing up the claims that “both have shown measurable improvements” over the 2021 models.
The Cyclingnews review team is yet to put them through their paces, so we can't say for sure whether these will give the best road bike tyres and best gravel tyres a run for their money, but here’s a closer look at what the updates entail.
Improved armour and puncture protection
(Image credit: American Classic)
As part of the redesign, American Classic has beefed up the armour on its road and gravel tyres, introducing several protective layers. The Timekeeper and Torchbearer tyres are on the receiving end of this beefed-up protection, in addition to becoming hookless rim compatible.
The Timekeeper road tyre now comes in 30mm width in addition to the current 25 and 28mm options, and receives Stage 3 and Stage 3S armour in the clincher and tubeless-ready models, respectively. Meanwhile, the all-season Torchbearer receives Stage 4 and Stage 4S armour for its clincher and tubeless-ready models.
Here’s a breakdown of what that actually looks like:
Swipe to scroll horizontally
Tyre
Purpose
Specs
Timekeeper clincher
Road
120 TPI casing and additional Nylon 105 belt
Timekeeper tubeless-ready
Road
120 TPI casing and additional 120 TPI skin
Torchbearer clincher
All-season road
120 TPI casing, Nylon 105 belt and deflecting skin
Torchbearer tubeless-ready
All-season road
120 TPI casing, 120TPI skin, Nylon 105 belt and deflecting skin
In addition to this, American Classic is also updating all of its gravel tyres, with each model retaining its tread patterns but gaining new Stage 5S armour on the tubeless-ready range, which consists of a 120 TPI casing and Nylon 105 skin. The brand claims that this offers best-in-class puncture protection with a drop in weight. These will all continue to be offered in 700x40, 700x50, and 650bx47, while the Kimberlite will now come in 700x35 as well. All tyres will be available in a new brown sidewall alongside the current tan and black options.
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Along with these improvements comes a slight price increase, with tyres now costing $10 more than previously. This means all clincher road tyres will increase from $30 to $40, and tubeless-ready gravel tyres from $35 to $45.
Mildred joined as Reviews Writer for Cyclingnews and BikePerfect in December 2020. She loves all forms of cycling from long-distance audax to daily errand-running by bike, and does almost everything on two wheels, including moving house, and started out her cycling career working in a bike shop. For the past five years she's volunteered at The Bristol Bike Project as a mechanic and session coordinator, and now sits on its board of directors.
Since then she's gone on to write for a multitude of cycling publications, including Bikeradar, Cycling Plus, Singletrack, Red Bull, Cycling UK and Total Women's Cycling. She's dedicated to providing more coverage of women's specific cycling tech, elevating under-represented voices in the sport, and making cycling more accessible overall.
